Social:Russian fascism (ideology)

Short description: Ideology

Russian fascism (also Russicism, Ruscism or Rashism (Russian: Рашизм, pronounced [raˈɕizm]; from "Russia, Russian", and Italian: "fascismo" — fascism, from which the ending is taken) is the alleged political ideology and social practice of the ruling regime of the Russia in the 21st century. This ideology is based on the ideas of the "special civilizational mission" of the Russians, such as Moscow as the third Rome and expansionism. It is also a widely used term in Ukraine to identify current Russian political regime and supporters of Russia military aggresion.

History

Among the many radical nationalist movements of the 1990s in Russia is the far-right fascist People's National Party of Russia (PNP), founded in 1994 by Alexander Ivanov-Sukharevsky, a film director by training, and Alexei Shiropaev, inspired by fascism. Orthodoxy and Cossack movements and spread the ideology, which she called "Russian". This ideology was a combination of populism, racial and anti-Semitic mysticism, national environmentalism, Orthodoxy, and nostalgia for the Tsar. The party numbered only a few thousand members, but historically influenced the extra-parliamentary scene in Russia through the well-known newspapers I am Russian, Heritage of Ancestors and Era Rossii. The party soon ran into trouble with the law for inciting ethnic hatred, the Ya Russky newspaper was eventually banned in 1999 and Ivanov-Sukharevsky was sentenced to several months in prison, but after his release he remained an important figure in circles close to Russian writers for a long time. and continued his activities.

Alexander J. Motyl is one of the Western political scientist and historians who researches Russian fascism. Timothy Snyder considers that Putin and his regime is directly influenced by the prophet of Russian fascism — Ivan Ilyin. Vladislav Inozemtsev, Russian academician, considers that Russia is an early-stage fascist state thus claiming current Russian political regime as fascist. Tomasz Kamusella, Polish scholar pursuing researching nationalism and ethnicity, and Alister Heath, The Daily Telegraph journalist, call current authoritarian Russian political regime as Putin's fascism. Maria Snegovaya believes Russia as led by Putin is a fascist regime.

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine

The terms rashism and rashist started circulating in usage among military and political elites of Ukraine and media. For example, Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, advocates on the natioanl level the use of the word in the meaning of Russian/Putin's fascism, to describe Russia's aggression against Ukraine. He also stated that rashism is much worse than fascism.

"Today, I would like to appeal to all journalists to use the word 'rashism', because this is a new phenomenon in world history that Mr. Putin has made with his country - modern rashists who are not much different from fascists. I will explain why: because before there was no such opportunity to destroy cities with so many air bombs, such equipment, there was no such force. Now absolutely other capacities and they use them as inhumans ", — Oleksiy Danilov.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky calls current political regime in Russia as well as Russian invasion as Russian fascism.

Main features and characteristics of Russian fascism

Political scientist Stanislav Belkovsky argues that russicism is disguised as anti-fascism, but has a fascist face and essence. Political scientist Ruslan Klyuchnik notes that the Russian elite considers itself entitled to build its own "sovereign democracy" without reference to Western standards, but taking into account Russia's traditions of state-building. Administrative resources in Russia are one of the means of preserving the democratic facade, which hides the mechanism of absolute manipulation of the will of citizens.

Russian political scientist Andrey Piontkovsky argues that the ideology of Russian fascism is in many ways similar to German fascism (Nazism), while the speeches of President Vladimir Putin reflect similar ideas to those of Adolf Hitler.

According to Alexander J. Motyl, an American historian and political scientist, Russian fascism has the following characteristics:

• undemocratic political system, different from both traditional authoritarianism and totalitarianism;
• statism and hypernationalism;
• hypermasculine cult of the supreme leader (emphasis on his courage, militancy and physical prowess);
• general popular support for the regime and its leader.

One of the researchers of rashisn, Ukrainian historian Kyrylo Halushko, describes rashism to have the following characteristics:

• inhuman cruelty
• crimes against humanity
• contempt for universal values

According to Mr. Halushko, rashism also has deep roots in the history of Russia, in particular in the history of the Muscovia, the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union; rashism, according to Halushko, has been most evident during Putin's rule in the last 20 years. However, according to the historian, racism is inherent in Russian culture, so historians and researchers are tracing the roots of rashism in the Russia's history and culture.

Another Ukrainian historian Vladlen Marayev, argues that Nazism, fascism, Stalinism and Rashism are in fact the same. According to the historian, the most obvious common features are: the militarization of society, the cult of the war of aggression, the desire for constant "blitzkrieg", the inability to objectively analyze their own strength. The distinguishing feature of Rashism from Nazism and Fascism is the significant corruption and nepotism which are inherent in the current authoritarian regime in Russia.

Ideology of Russian fascism

According to Professor Oleksandr Kostenko, russicism is an ideology that is “based on illusions and justifies the admissibility of any arbitrariness for the sake of misinterpreted interests of Russian society. In foreign policy, racism manifests itself, in particular, in violation of the principles of international law, imposing its version of historical truth on the world solely in favor of Russia, abusing the right of veto in the UN Security Council, and so on. In domestic politics, racism is a violation of human rights to freedom of thought, persecution of members of the "dissent movement", the use of the media to misinform their people, and so on." Oleksandr Kostenko also considers russicism a manifestation of sociopathy.

See also

• Russian world
• Eurasianism
• Propaganda in the Russian Federation
• Anti-Ukrainian sentiment
• Russianism
• Putinism
• Political groups under Vladimir Putin's presidency
• Russian Fascist Party